Each social network is different in the types of advertising that they offer, but it helps to look into the following options of advertising for the particular social network you are using.

Here are 7 simple tips to grow your social networks using paid methods:

Purchase an Ad– consider paying to place an ad that is targeted to reach your particular target market as a way to grow your network. The ad must have a good image and good copy to attract attention and get results.

Pay to Promote- this is a great way to use existing content that has gotten a good response from your followers and fans, and pay to promote that content to a larger audience. This can include a promoted post on Facebook, a promoted tweet on Twitter, a promoted pin on Pinterest, etc.

Sponsored Stories– This is popular on Facebook, sponsored stories are messages coming from friends about them engaging with a Page, app or event that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight so there’s a better chance people see them. It allows you to promote a story on a person’s timeline, so if they liked your page it will say “Jane likes (the name of your business)” and allows people to click to your page to also like it or get more information.

Referral Marketing– connect with someone with a large audience that fits your target market, and ask him to promote your business, you can offer some type of incentive for each fan/follower you get from that particular person’s network. This may take a little bit of work to figure out the tracking and an appropriate incentive.

Create a Contest or Sweepstakes where someone will win something for connecting with you on social media. Depending on the prize the cost of this method could be minimal or expensive. You can use tools such as Constant Contact’s Social Campaigns or Woobox to create all the necessary pieces to execute the contest or sweepstakes correctly.

Promoted Profile– this is popular on Twitter. It allows you to pay to promote your profile so you can gain new followers. Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user’s public list of whom they follow. When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow. If a user follows some of those accounts, but not the advertiser’s account, then Twitter may recommend the advertiser’s Promoted Account to that user.

Promoted Page– this is popular on Facebook. You can pay to simply promote your page without having a special ad or offer. Your business page will show up for your target market as a suggested page to like.